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After reaching a fresh all-time high on Sunday at $11,831, Bitcoin price has continued to trade near $11,500 even after the reports suggesting that national governments are working to regulate the cryptocurrency.
The United Kingdom and Indonesia are preparing to implement regulatory crackdowns of varying degrees on cryptocurrency usage within their respective jurisdictions. The U.K. Treasury plans to expand its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations to explicitly bring Bitcoin under their purview.
Indonesia, on the other hand, is planning to issue a ban on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies sometime next year. This step is being orchestrated by the central bank, which fears that allowing cryptocurrency usage to continue unfettered will threaten the sovereignty of the rupiah, Indonesia’s national currency.
As it turns out, neither the U.K. nor Indonesia represents a major cryptocurrency market. Even though, this news caused temporary market turbulence, Bitcoin continues to show its resilience. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading at $11,532, posting a market cap of $192 billion.
While the bull market is still intact, Bitcoin’s failure to close above the previous record high indicates bull market exhaustion. There is a chance Bitcoin could re-test the psychological support level of $10,000. Aaand it goes without saying, in larger scheme of things, the chart remains in favor of the bulls. HODL!
Top Stories from the Crypto World
1. Venezuelan President announces oil-backed cryptocurrency
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro recently announced a new cryptocurrency during a Christmas television special, amid the country’s economic crisis and the plunge of the Venezuelan Bolivar’s value.
A statement on the government’s website reads, “Venezuela will create a…cryptocurrency to advance monetary sovereignty, as it will help to overcome the financial blockade and thus move towards new forms of international financing for the economic and social development of the country.”
A good thing to know: Cryptocurrencies in Venezuela are helping people circumvent the government’s restrictions. Today, with Bitcoin and DASH, people can buy gift cards and use them on online marketplaces like Amazon to buy goods from abroad.
2. Winklevoss twins invest in Blockstack’s $50 million ICO
Blockstack’s initial coin offering (ICO), which was launched in November, saw the participation from investors like Union Square Ventures (USV), Winklevoss Capital and more. The company closed the ICO raising $50 million through the sale of 440 million tokens.
Founded in 2013, Blockstack has been building a decentralized architecture for publishing on the internet, one designed around user control. To realize that goal, the “stacks” token will run on Blockstack’s virtualchain technology.
Co-founder Muneeb Ali said, “I think it’s more like a funding round, with high-quality sophisticated investors, rather than random people just throwing money at something,”
3. Japanese Financial regulator legalizes four new cryptocurrency exchanges
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has authorized the operation of four new virtual currency exchanges in the country. The approved exchanges are already the second batch of companies authorized by the FSA.
FSA claimed that only the authorized 15 exchanges should be allowed to trade digital currencies as only the cryptocurrencies that they will handle are confirmed to “meet the definition under the fund settlement law.” The four companies that were approved are Tokyo Bitcoin Exchange Co. Ltd., FTT Corp., Bit Arg Exchange Tokyo Co. Ltd., and Xtheta Corp.